Kindle or iPad - which one is a better choice?

[czokletmuss]

I'm thinking about buying one of those and I'm wondering which one would be better. What I need it for is mostly reading and/or writing plus using the Internet. If anyone could share his opinion I would be grateful.

Thanks!

[sal_vager]

Well, iPads are more versatile I think, the Kindle is mainly just a reader isn't it?

There's many other eReaders and tablets to consider as well, If it were me I'd be off to the shops to have a good old nosey at what's on offer, then pop online to find a bargain

[lajoswinkler]

Kindle is for reading books. It has a passive screen. It's meant to be used for displaying pages of text, not images.

What you want is a tablet, and there are plenty of choices on the market. iPad isn't the only or the best thing in existence.

[Kryten]

If you're mostly after internet browsing, the kindle fire (which I presume is what you mean) is perfectly acceptable, especially for the price that it's offered for, and it probably doesn't need to be said that it works well for reading. In terms of writing, you'd probably face issues; there are a very limited number of document editing or note-taking apps (and basically all other categories of app), and none of them appear to be any good.

EDIT: If that doesn't sound like the thing for you, I'd look into a relatively cheap android tablet like the Nexus 7, the ipad is simply massively overpowered for the stuff you want to do. Other tablets in the sort of very cheap price range of the kindle fire aren't worth bothering with, it's only at the price it is because amazon subsidise it heavily.

Edited January 30, 2014 by Kryten

[iDan122]

iPad definitely(in fact, I'm writing this message on it right now!).

An iPad let's you watch videos, movies, view pictures, browse the Internet in comfort, read books, magazines, comics, manga-you name it. It is very easy to get books on your iPad, for example, I want a certain book, it takes me 1 minute to find and download it-that easy. So il go with iPad for sure, very easy to use for forums in full version(not mobile).

Don't get an android-based tablet, they may attract you easily with their price, but beware-you will get a cheap tablet with a poor shell and bad hardware, and it's very hard to find a book that suits that exact tablet, whereas the iPad is standardized and you actually get read, interactive books on the ipad(you can flip e pages by taking the tip of the page and dragging it-very realistic. There is always word search, chapters etc. in iBooks, you also get your bookshelf which you can customize. Btw you can also put PDFs in a separate shelf in iBooks.

So yeah, iPad all the way.

Edited January 30, 2014 by iDan122

[Kryten]

iPad definitely(in fact, I'm writing this message on it right now!).

An iPad let's you watch videos, movies, view pictures, browse the Internet in comfort, read books, magazines, comics, manga-you name it.

I can do all of those on my 80-odd-quid kindle fire. You are aware tablets don't exist in some kind of dichotomy of $400 apple monstrosity or £50 no-name chinese android tablet, right? Your advice might have been useful in 2010, but the world has moved on.

Edited January 30, 2014 by Kryten

[Canopus]

Take the iPad. I don't want to talk about it though.

[iDan122]

I can do all of those on my 80-odd-quid kindle fire. You are aware tablets don't exist in some kind of dichotomy of $400 apple monstrosity or £50 no-name chines android tablet, right? Your advice might have been useful in 2010, but the world has moved on.

iPad was the first normal tablet to appear on the market. The original is always better, like the iphone(1st of its kind) is better than some Samsung phone which copied 90% of the iPhone, put some cheaper parts and walla.

[czokletmuss]

Okay, thank you very much for sharing your opinions folks. I think I've chosen the gizmo.

[Kryten]

iPad was the first normal tablet to appear on the market. The original is always better, like the iphone(1st of its kind) is better than some Samsung phone which copied 90% of the iPhone, put some cheaper parts and walla.

There are two main issues with that argument. The first is of course that it's completely wrong (microsoft tablet PCs available since 2001, first android tablet [archos 5] available the year before the ipad came out), but the second is that it's frankly moronic. Think for a second; what do you think is better, the computer you're using now or ENIAC? Which is more 'original'?

[lajoswinkler]

Saying that iPad is "more standardized" is also a failed statement.

[CaptainGiblets]

I know this is isn't one of your choice's but look at a Microsoft Surface 2, you can do way more than Ipad or Kindle

[Aghanim]

The question is: What do you need?

If you want to only read ebooks then get a kindle

If you want standardized stuff with guaranteed stuff then use ipad

If you want to be able to put your own apps and more open app store than use some random android tablet

[Nuke]

i really dont see the difference, you are going to get an arm device that is locked down and totally useless for anything but the most mundane of applications. its not like a pc where you can purge the system and install a new one without voiding the warranty and being unable to find drivers, then write code for the machine on the machine.

[lajoswinkler]

I really don't get it, why are some of you repeating that iPad is "standardized"? What does that mean?

If anything, Android's app market is larger (though less profitable) in volume than Apple's app store.

Here's a relatively fresh article from Time.

http://techland.time.com/2013/04/16/ios-vs-android

[TechnicalK3rbal]

Ipad.

You can even get the kindle app, which allows you to read eboooks and documents exactly the same as it would be on a kindle.

[vetrox]

Theres nothing like watching an "apple fanboy vs non apple fanboy" fight.

Lemme just grab my popcorn.

Personally though the surface pro is where its at but its pretty pricey especially if you mostly just want to read books. And if books are 90% of what your tablet is going to do then the kindle is the tablet for you.

I have a really ****ty samsung tablet that i use soley for the purpose of watching stuff at work. I dont do anything else and I'm certain it performs just as well as an ipad in that situation. Buy the device you need for what you want to do. Things like the I-PAD and upper end android tablets are "jack of all trades" items but dont do any of them with particular flare. A kindle will be far better to read books with than an i-pad. An i-pad will play games and has silly apps which it will handle better than a kindle...A surface pro is a pc that can play dota 2 whilst im at work.

Edited January 31, 2014 by vetrox

[NASAFanboy]

Let me get this clear.

Kindle is very excellent for reading ebooks, very much so.

iPad is an very excellent digital entertainment platform for movies and games, but not so much for books.

Android tablets are good at everything, excellent at nothing.

[Monkeh]

I'm a big fan of my Padfone 2. Their are a few good e-readers available for Android, kindle, google play books etc. Love the padfone!

[vetrox]

iPad is an very excellent digital entertainment platform for movies and games, but not so much for books.

Android tablets are good at everything, excellent at nothing.

What makes the ipad better at movies than an equivelent android tablet? (genuine question)

[Leonov]

Lets not turn this into a flame war, In saying that, i have no idea why anyone would not get an android based tablet.

The Surface 2 is that tiny glimpse into the after PC market, Too bad Microsoft has really bad marketing.

I have nothing nice to say about the apple alternatives so in order to not egg on a flame war, i wont say anything about them.

OP, grab a cheap Android based tablet.

[iDan122]

There are two main issues with that argument. The first is of course that it's completely wrong (microsoft tablet PCs available since 2001, first android tablet [archos 5] available the year before the ipad came out), but the second is that it's frankly moronic. Think for a second; what do you think is better, the computer you're using now or ENIAC? Which is more 'original'?

I have a very simple answer: my 2010 1st gen iPad runs better than an Asus android tablet released in 2013, how's that?

Yes a 2010 tablet beats a 2013 android tablet easily, which is why I chose Apple not cheap Samsung.

[iDan122]

What makes the ipad better at movies than an equivelent android tablet? (genuine question)

The AppStore is much larger than the google play market.

iOS has more exclusives, better UI.

Why I like Apple:

Suppose there is a certain app which you want to get, but it requires specific hardware

On AppStore it clearly says what iPads, iPhones and iTouches support it.

Google play market gives you a huge list of what phones can support it, or doesn't provide any list at all, so you might get a cheap Samsung tablet, buy an app and find out your "cheaper than iPad and better" tablet cannot run it.

[Kryten]

The AppStore is much larger than the google play market.

iOS has more exclusives, better UI.

Why I like Apple:

Suppose there is a certain app which you want to get, but it requires specific hardware

On AppStore it clearly says what iPads, iPhones and iTouches support it.

Google play market gives you a huge list of what phones can support it, or doesn't provide any list at all, so you might get a cheap Samsung tablet, buy an app and find out your "cheaper than iPad and better" tablet cannot run it.

Did you even read his question? What does any of that have to do with playing movies, which wouldn't require an app at all? And why do you keep bringing up Samsung? You're literally the only person in the thread that's even mentioned them.

[Canopus]

You two can stop. He already decided.